Current design energy absorbing steering columns rely on the deformation of metal as the column collapses order to absorb energy. This technology has been used for over thirty years. It has many limitations. These limitations include: 1) The collapse rate is fixed. It cannot be varied to the load variations induced by the range of driver mass, velocity of the vehicle, or rate of deceleration, 2) The collapse rate cannot be varied during the course of a crash to exploit air bag/column collapse synergies, 3) No mechanism exists to provide feedback to the supplemental restraint system (airbag/column collapse mechanism) to tailor restraining forces to the maximum “G” forces deemed safe.